This Is TASTE

By Matt Rodbard & Aliza AbarbanelArts Food

Ranking
41st
on Food
Favorites
116
Followers
Typical duration
53 min
per episode

Based on Podcast App listening data

This Is TASTE episodes

August 16, 2024449: How the Hell to Judge a Wine with The New Wine Review's Jon Fine
Jon Fine is here! He’s a longtime journalist, cultural critic, and touring musician, and now he’s the editor in chief of The New Wine Review, an exciting publication that digs into the world of low-intervention wine. In this conversation we talk about what’s exciting in wine today and how The New Wine Review is changing the way wine is written about—the voice, the language, the attitude. I hope you enjoy this talk.
Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.
MORE FROM JON FINE:
If The Bear Was a Real Restaurant, It Would Be a Wine Bar [NWR]
What’s Wine Really Worth? [NWR]
How Good Wine Rewards Your Attention [NWR]

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55 min
August 14, 2024448: How a Hollywood Agent Eats So Very Well with Priyanka Mattoo
Priyanka Mattoo is the author of Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones, a wonderful memoir about food and place and how moving around the world inspired volumes and volumes of stories. We so loved having Priyanka into the studio, and we covered some serious ground. We discuss her upbringing in the UK, Saudi Arabia, and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and her journey to Hollywood, where she worked as a talent agent and studio executive. We talk about food on TV, The Bear (naturally), but also what excites her on television today.
Also on the show, Matt talks about his recent trip to India with chef Meherwan Irani of restaurants Chai Pani and Botiwalla. They visited Mumbai, Pune, and Ahmednagar and experienced so much including stops at Shree Thaker Bhojanalay, Cafe Yezdan, and Parsi Dairy Farm.
Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.
MORE FROM PRIYANKA MATTOO:
The Best Restaurant in Town [TASTE]
‘We Never Moved Back to Kashmir, Because We Couldn’t’ [NYT]
The Monday Media Diet with Priyanka Mattoo [WITI]

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57 min
August 12, 2024447: Vietnamese Coffee Is Poppin’ Off with Sahra Nguyen
Sahra Nguyen is the founder of Nguyen Coffee Supply, a progressive coffee company that is bringing Vietnamese coffee into focus in the coolest way. On this episode we talk with Sahra about why she decided to focus on robusta, a species of coffee that is grown widely in southeast Asia but lesser known in the United States. This is rapidly changing thanks to Sahra and we get into why her work at Nguyen is bringing this delicious coffee to the mainstream.
Also on the show it’s the return of three things where Aliza and Matt discuss exciting food and drink on their radars. On this episode: The Formosa Cafe in Los Angeles got a reboot, Hark is our new favorite podcast app, Eel Bar is one of the NYC restaurants of the year, Bar Contra is very intriguing, we really like Haven’s Kitchen aioli, Phoebe Tran is making moves with Bé Bếp, Martha: The Cookbook is Martha Stewart’s 100th cookbook!
Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.
MORE FROM SAHRA NGUYEN:
You’ve Probably Drunk Vietnamese Coffee Without Ever Knowing It [TASTE]
A Bond Built Over Coffee Leads to Success in Love and Business [NYT]
This Is TASTE 338: Haven’s Kitchen [TASTE]
This Is TASTE 25: Jeremiah Stone & Fabian Von Hauske [TASTE]

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44 min
August 10, 2024446: Claire Saffitz & Andy Baraghani
Today on the show we have two conversations from two of our favorites from the cookbook and online world, Claire Saffitz and Andy Baraghani. Claire is the author of a great recent cookbook, What’s For Dessert, and she’s truly one of our favorite cooking instructors and personalities on the internet. Andy’s rich story and sharp recipe writing chops come together so beautifully in his book, The Cook You Want to Be, published two years ago. So what has Andy been up to this year? It turns out, plenty—both online and offline.
Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.
MORE FROM CLAIRE SAFFITZ & ANDY BARAGHANI:
I Tried Making Homemade Strawberry Shortcake Bars [YouTube]
Challah Bread [NYT Cooking]
Warm Chickpea Bowl with Lemony Yogurt [official]

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1 hr 40 min
August 09, 2024445: Eating at James Baldwin’s Table with Cree Myles
Cree Myles is the curator of the Black literature community All Ways Black and the host of The Baldwin 100, a new podcast from Vintage Books examining James Baldwin’s life and words to commemorate one hundred years since his birth. She’s also one of our favorite sources of book recommendations, and it’s so fun to have her on the show to go deep on the intersection of food and literature.
Also on the show it’s the return of three things where Aliza and Matt discuss exciting food and drink on their radars. On this episode: Indian snack attack from Doosra and Confusion Snacks, Island Creek Oyster Farm’s tinned clams are our home cooking go-to, Hey Champ hand-dipped snacks, a visit to Brooklyn’s Montague Diner, Lexington Bakes has a new brownie format and it rules, Strange Delight might be the NYC restaurant of the summer, and long live the Seashore Flats.
Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.
MORE FROM CREE MYLES
How One Book Influencer Championing Black Authors Is Changing Publishing [NPR]
The Baldwin 100 [Apple Podcasts]
Strange Delight Channels New Orleans in All the Best Ways [The New Yorker]

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40 min
August 07, 2024444: Restaurants Are Broken with Akira Akuto
We welcome back our good friend Akira Akuto to the show. Akira is the Los Angeles–based chef who was behind the acclaimed LA sandwich and pastry counter (and so much more) Konbi, which closed up shop in early 2023. In this episode we speak with one of the more clairvoyant voices in the restaurant world. Akira is brutally honest about why a seemingly successful restaurant was anything but. We talk about the difficulties chefs and operators face on a daily basis and why California in particular is a challenging landscape for small-business owners. We also chat about what he’s been up to recently and the Japanese citrus he’s backing in a major way.
Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.
MORE FROM AKIRA AKUTO:
Konbi, Home to the Best Egg Salad Sandwich in L.A., to Close Both Locations [LA Times]
America's Best New Restaurants 2019 [Bon Appetit]
This Is TASTE 164: Akira Akuto [TASTE]

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46 min
August 05, 2024443: Olive Odyssey
Olive Odyssey is a Palestinian olive oil collective working to build demand, supply chains, and economic power for Palestinian farmers since 2022. Today cofounder Aya Faour, a professional olive oil taster, is on the show to share how Olive Odyssey is working to build collective power and partnering with groups like Rose Los Angeles to create special collaboration products that are funding aid in Gaza.
Los Angeles listeners! Reserve a ticket for Koreaworld x Caldo Verde on August 15. Matt will be joined by chefs Deuki Hong and Suzanne Goin for a really fun collaboration dinner.
Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.
MORE FROM OLIVE ODYSSEY:
Olive Odyssey [official]
Foragers [official]
High-Minded Edibles for the Farm-to-Table Era [TASTE]

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31 min
August 02, 2024442: The Last Original Food Blogger with Titus Ruscitti
The title of this episode is “the last original food blogger,” and this is no exaggeration. Titus Ruscitti has been writing his influential blog Chi BBQ King for more than a decade, publishing dispatches from the Chicago food scene on the no-frills Blogspot platform. It’s a throwback publication, tipping to Chowhound and the original Serious Eats, and it’s so fun catching up with Titus about all the exciting restaurants he’s visited around the Midwest. We talk about Chicago beef, tavern pizza, tacos, barbecue, The Bear (naturally), and his intense interest in Midwestern foodways that has had him visiting Wisconsin, Indiana, and West Michigan regularly. This is a great conversation about one of the world’s greatest food cities, and I hope you enjoy it.
Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.
MORE FROM TITUS RUSCITTI OF CHI BBQ KING:
Empanadas in Chicago
Big Eating in Southwest Michigan
Indienne

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54 min
July 31, 2024441: Drink Better, Drink Less, Drink a Combustible Edison with Jim Meehan
Jim Meehan is here for a wide-ranging and highly entertaining conversation. Jim is the legendary barman and pioneer in the modern cocktail movement. He's also a journalist and the author of three excellent books, including The PDT Cocktail Book, Meehan’s Bartender Manual, and the brand-new The Bartender’s Pantry. In this episode, we go back in time to the dawn of the modern cocktail movement and relive some of the big openings and stories of the age. Jim also reflects on his book writing career, and how there’s much more to a cocktail pantry than you think. It’s fun catching up with Jim, and we hope you enjoy this conversation.
Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.
MORE FROM JIM MEEHAN:
Celebrity Booze Tasting with Danny Brown and Jim Meehan [YouTube]
Jim Meehan’s Deep Dive into the Cocktail Kitchen [Portland Monthly]

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58 min
July 29, 2024440: New York Times Cooking and Restaurant Reviewing with Sam Sifton
This one is a long time coming, and we're thrilled to welcome Sam Sifton into our studio. Sam has held various key roles at the New York Times including food editor, culture editor, national editor, and restaurant critic. He’s also the founding editor of New York Times Cooking, which has become one of the paper’s biggest financial successes in decades. In this episode, Sam talks about the world of food media, his appetite for news and culture, his prolific newsletter output, and some of his most memorable reviews when he was working as a critic. Sam is a true one of one, and it was such fun to have him in for a conversation.
Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.
MORE FROM SAM SIFTON:
Cherries for Black Forest Cake, Tomatoes for Gazpacho [NYT]
The Reviewing Life [NYT]
Nello [NYT]
Torrisi Italian Specialties [NYT]

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50 min

About This Is TASTE

From the publisher's feed

If you're a fan of smart and lively conversations about food, home cooking, and culture, this is the place. We interview the most interesting characters in the world of food, media, and cookbooks and release episodes several times a month. The program is hosted by TASTE editors Aliza Abarbanel and Matt Rodbard, and is sometimes recorded live at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City.